the grounding cable from the main panel box got accidently busted by my guy when taking off a piece of rotted trim board.
I gotta get an electrician to fix it somehow. what exactly will he have to do, anyone know? can he solder it? it runs into the concrete sidewalk, so its not like it can be just pulled up and and stick a new line stuck in the ground.
also how exactly do grounding cables work. I know it creates a path to the ground obviously. this is for when exactly? surges? what kind of surges – is that correct?
Replies
is it encased in CC or is there a sleeve around it...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
>> is it encased in CC or is there a sleeve around it... <<
What's CC? Some kind of conduit? Here, they just run a bare copper wire. I'd guess it's a #8. Pretty tough to accidently break though...
To OP: a google brought up this:
http://www.mikeholt.com/cgi-bin/codeforum/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=7;t=001759
CC... ConCrete...
drill a new hole in the CC .. install a new ground rod and attach the ground wire wich should be a #6..Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
CC hu... DYMTOU?
DYMTOU?...... yur turn....Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Did you make that one up? :-)
nope....Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
OK - I'll have to remember that one....
Yeah thanks to you CC got me in trouble with Piffin awhile back for using it lol.
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=85277.2 View Image View Image
ROAR!!!!!Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
just clamp a wire to each end
I'm not an electrician but here's how I would fix it. Run a continous ground from panel to first ground rod, then to another ground wire 6' away. The wire run from the meter to the first ground rod should be covered in EMT.
If the ground rod runs into cement, I would consult a pro or inspector.You get out of life what you put into it......minus taxes.
Marv
yeah it runs into cement...gotta see if I can find an electrician. View Image View Image
get you a short piece of copper wire about 18 inches, get you two of the brass clamps. and clamp the piece to the two broken pieces. done $6
be nice if that's all I gotta do - I'll have to check into it. View Image View Image
no sleeve View Image View Image
you want to fix it yurself???
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
wasn't planning to. View Image View Image
I think you'll be seeing a response from at least one electrician but no, you can't solder it. The grounding lead is one piece from panel to ground rod(s). Check your local code.
I'd think about a new ground rod, and a new ground wire. You have any dirt nearby? Or drill a hole through the concrete for the ground rod if not.
The repair depends a little bit on the situation (for example, what does the ground wire attach to.....rods? And is it the only one?). But there are several things an electrician can do.
1) replace it
2) splice it using a special welding kit or an "irreversible" crimp. Both of these methods are good but require using specialized equipment. I'm a one-man shop and I own one of the welding kits, they're pretty handy and not too expensive.
The ground for the service is kind of a voltage "anchor". The transformer supplying power to the house is grounded. By grounding the house and line coming in you give any high transient voltages a low-resistance place to go if they get into the system. Second, the bonding of the neutral to the ground keeps the voltage in the transformer more stable since it has a zero-reference to earth that can't really change.
Ed
Everything i've been told about ground wires is that they must be one piece, unbroken from rods to panel.
Check the local codes, maybe they'll let you repair it.
and according to our local walmart inspector, you can only have one rod. I got nine. How offen does the code enforcer comes to your house.
Edited 6/12/2007 8:26 pm by brownbagg
How often does the code enforcer comes to your house?
Dont know. I'm not always home.
How often does the code enforcer comes to your house?Dont know. I'm not always home.well, think of it like this, How offen can you find help at walmart?
Just run a new one. Buy an 8' copper grounding rod and drive it into the ground near the box. Then run a new line from the box to your ground rod, replacing the old rod.
As for what it does, it serves two purposes. It eliminates any current differential between your location and the neutral line from the power company, and it makes sure that there is a connection point to the earth if that neutral line should fail.
was able to get a guy to get er mended. what a relief. I suppose I could have attempted it myself, but I like to leave wire work to the sparkies.
The nice thing is that we notched out the back of the trim board so you can't even see it - not that I am trying to hide it. ( I informed the HO we broke it) but it looks so much nicer than with the wire sticking thru the fascia board the way it was before.
View Image
In theory it must be "permanently" spliced, either welded or with a permanent crimp connector. In practice, if it were mine, I'd probably just get 4-6 split bolt connectors and a length of bare wire of the same size about 6 feet long, then double up the wire with 2-3 connectors on each side of the split.
But if this is a customer's house you gotta do it right, to code, and it requires an electrician with the proper tools, unless you can replace the entire length with a new, uncut piece. If the wire's broken off close to the ground you can maybe save a few $$ on the service call by excavating around it a few inches deep beforehand.
Try to come up with a way to protect the wire from future damage.
There are several reasons for having the wire there. If the house's electrical system is otherwise sound there's probably little danger in having it broken for a short period, but it should be fixed ASAP.